Chapter 28: Brother, Why Is Your Face Red?

Everything was girlish—there were even a few brand-new dresses. Su Qingyi thought they looked nice, so he bought them.

Because when he previously bought clothes for his younger sister, she had said she didn’t like bright colors, so all of them were simple floral prints or in blue and white tones.

Receiving another round of gifts, Gu Qiangwei quickly said thank you.

“Big Brother, you don’t know how good Qiangwei’s cooking is—her dumplings are amazing! Let’s make dumplings this afternoon, okay?”

Su Qingshuang hadn’t seen her older brother for six months. Now that they were reunited, she was excited. She threw herself at him and clung to Gu Qiangwei’s hand, acting spoiled.

“Alright, alright. We’ll make dumplings this afternoon!”

Gu Qiangwei agreed with a smile. When Su Qingyi saw her smiling face, he was momentarily dazed, then quickly carried his things into his room.

He Xiulan followed behind him. “Your room has already been cleaned for you. Nothing else has been touched.”

“Take a rest first. When we’re done wrapping the dumplings, just come out to eat. Since you’ve finally come home, you should rest well!”

She still felt distressed over her son.

Two years ago, Su Qingyi was injured during a mission and had to stay in the hospital for over half a month, then recovered at home for another month or two.

There was still a scar on his body.

Sometimes, He Xiulan would complain to her husband, wondering why they had to let their son become a soldier.

But it was just a passing comment. In the end, she always let go of those thoughts—because it was her son’s own decision.

She only muttered about it in private and never brought it up in front of him. In front of her son, she always gave her full support.

“It’s okay, Mom. I’ll come out later to help you all.”

Once Su Qingyi said that, He Xiulan left the room and even closed the door behind her.

Su Qingshuang sat on the sofa in the living room with Gu Qiangwei, holding her hand. “Qiangwei, don’t you think my brother is super handsome?”

“I’ve heard you say it a few times before. Your brother is very handsome, and he’s a battalion commander in the army, right? He’s made lots of achievements too.”

Su Qingshuang used to say these things often, and Gu Qiangwei, having experienced her past life, knew them well—so her response was smooth and natural.

“Yes, yes!”

“My brother is the best man in the world. He’s so good to me and the family. He’s also an outstanding soldier. I know he’ll get promoted again in the future.”

Su Qingshuang truly admired her brother. Her eyes sparkled like stars when she spoke. Gu Qiangwei followed her lead and praised him too.

“Yes, your brother is an excellent soldier and a very good man.”

So good that, in her previous life, even though she turned him down, he still looked after and helped her.

So good that he knew when to advance or retreat, always polite and considerate.

Sometimes, Gu Qiangwei in her past life wondered—why hadn’t she married Su Qingyi in the first place? If she had, things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did.

After spending so much time together, she had developed some feelings for him too. But she always told herself she was a martyr’s widow, with a sick mother-in-law to care for.

All she needed to do was make money. So she buried those feelings deep down and never responded to him directly.

Looking back now, she thought she’d been foolish.

Because of people who weren’t even worth it, she missed out on so much.

If she had known earlier in her past life, she would’ve left that awful family sooner and still would’ve met Su Qingyi.

And they definitely would’ve ended up together.

As she was thinking about her past life and praising Su Qingyi sincerely, he just happened to come out of his room.

Hearing her compliments, his ears turned red.

Why was Gu Qiangwei praising him like that?

This was supposed to be the first time they were meeting.

“Brother, why is your face red!”

Hearing her, Su Qingshuang turned around. Su Qingyi fanned his face with his hand, his eyes scanning the room slightly awkwardly. “Maybe it’s just because it’s hot outside.”

“Weren’t we going to make dumplings?”

He took the initiative to change the subject. Su Qingshuang pulled Gu Qiangwei to her feet. “Let’s see what ingredients we have at home. We can make a few different flavors, okay?”

Gu Qiangwei nodded. They checked the kitchen and found they had beef, lamb, shrimp, pork with scallion, and even some vegetables for vegetarian dumplings.

A total of five dumpling fillings.

“Qingyi, you’re the strongest, so you can roll the wrappers. Qiangwei will prepare the fillings. Your dad, Xiaoshuang, and I will wrap them,” He Xiulan immediately delegated.

“On New Year’s Eve, it was Qiangwei who made the dumplings. Your dad loved them. She even made potstickers the next day!”

“Qiangwei is just amazing!”

He Xiulan complimented her as she spoke, making Gu Qiangwei blush. “Auntie, don’t say that. I’m here spending the New Year with you—it’s what I should be doing.”

“You’re technically a guest, but after hearing what you said, we won’t treat you like one. We already think of you as half a daughter!”

He Xiulan beamed.

Gu Qiangwei went on to prepare the fillings: beef, lamb, shrimp, pork with scallion, and chive with egg.

Just a bit of each—enough to last for two days, so they could eat them again the next day.

She handed the finished fillings to He Xiulan to taste.

But He Xiulan passed them straight to her son. “Qingyi, try them and see if the taste is especially good—Qiangwei made them!”

Gu Qiangwei quickly moved the bowls of fillings closer. Su Qingyi tried a bit of each and nodded. “They’re really well-seasoned.”

“See? Qiangwei’s cooking is great! She’s also super smart—she gives ideas for our store and helps me with my designs.”

Su Qingshuang touched her chin. “How can someone be so smart? I like Qiangwei so much! Why didn’t I meet her when we were kids? If we’d been childhood friends, that’d be perfect!”

She chirped away like an excited little bird.

Everyone around them couldn’t help but smile.

Once Gu Qiangwei and Su Qingyi were done with their prep work, they joined in to wrap dumplings.

After they finished, they made two simple dishes in the afternoon and prepared some dipping sauce to go with the dumplings.

The first bite was delicious—Su Qingshuang immediately launched into another round of praise.

Su Qingyi also gave sincere compliments. The dumplings really were delicious. Gu Qiangwei was incredible.

Hearing his praise, Gu Qiangwei felt a little complicated inside.

In her past life, she had been obsessed with making money—always thinking about how to give her in-laws a better life. She was constantly busy, rarely stopping to enjoy her own life.

She hardly ever cooked.

Later on, she started learning, only because Wang Shufen got sick. She didn’t want to hire help, thinking it would waste money, so she learned to cook herself.

She became skilled and even nursed Wang Shufen back to health. After that, she kept working hard to earn money.

Rarely did she cook for herself.

And never for Su Qingyi or Su Qingshuang—she hadn’t expected them to like her food so much.